urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-a27fff3d-0d1b-4145-b91e-6726fb6cadf1Insurance - Tags - friendsurance Incorporate new approaches to address uncertainty and complexity.12013-06-26T15:55:07-04:00IBM Connections - Blogsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-abe8dcea-827d-4fdb-b616-b03901f5d647Insurers as friendsChristian Bieckchristian.bieck@de.ibm.com270001WK4FactiveComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-04-22T06:49:17-04:002013-04-22T07:03:53-04:00<div dir="ltr">
Two weeks ago I ran across an article on Spiegel Online. The gist: young adults, i.e. 18 to 34 year olds, are turning their backs on Facebook, at least in the US and Germany. The reason was pretty interesting: &ldquo;For some teenagers, Facebook is becoming a kind of LinkedIn: digital infrastructure for not very personal stuff, a place were where you find your parents and grandparents, teachers and football coaches.&rdquo; (You can find the full article <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/nutzerzahlen-von-socialbakers-jugend-wendet-sich-von-facebook-ab-a-892266.html" target="_blank">here</a> &ndash; in German, though.)</div>
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If this trend is validated in the mid term, what does that mean for insurers who are (finally) pushing to become more social? Well, if they have been doing it right, not really all that much. IMO, the actual direct business effects of social networks like Facebook have been overhyped. Social networks are not about selling, they are about reaching actual and potential customers in a familiar, more private environment. If insurers are willing to not just push their product but actually listen to what customers are saying, they can gain valuable trust, familiarity and relationships.</div>
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A while ago, I heard about an great example of this from Turkey. Local insurer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GunesSigorta" target="_blank">G&uuml;nes Sigorta</a> introduced &ldquo;Facebook insurance&rdquo;, which covers FB users in the case of loss of their data. G&uuml;nes offered this service for free, users simply had to sign up through Facebook. The result: 140,000 likes of their page and great publicity at low cost. 140k likes translates into a lot of potential for interaction (the number would be a lot even for the US). And to get back to my original pointing &ndash; an idea like this is easily transferable. So what if FB is the new LinkedIn &ndash; the contact is there, as long as G&uuml;nes stays non-intrusive they have shown themselves to be citizens of the social world.</div>
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We can see a completely different example in German company <a href="http://www.friendsurance.com/" target="_blank">Friendsurance</a>. They are registered as a broker, and their business model is based on the idea of a social network. In their own words, &ldquo;Friendsurance takes a completely new approach towards insurance: for the first time, we have implemented the concept of a online peer-to-peer insurance, which combines social networks with well established insurance companies. Customers can connect to form individual insurance-networks, thereby lowering their annual insurance premiums by up to 50%.&rdquo; Fascinating idea; whether this is really the &ldquo;future of insurance&rdquo; remains to be seen, but it certainly has the potential to attract young, internet-savvy, social network-affine customers.</div>
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Stay tuned for more changes in the worlds of insurance and social&hellip;</div>
Two weeks ago I ran across an article on Spiegel Online. The gist: young adults, i.e. 18 to 34 year olds, are turning their backs on Facebook, at least in the US and Germany. The reason was pretty interesting: &ldquo;For some teenagers, Facebook is becoming a...00827urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-a27fff3d-0d1b-4145-b91e-6726fb6cadf1Insurance2013-06-26T15:55:07-04:00